SRI LANKA: ELEVEN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER AFTER 20 YEARS

February 4, 2025:

Eleven accused who stood indicted with murder were found guilty and sentenced to death by Uva Province High Court Judge Prasanna Alwis, Daily Mirror reported on January 31, 2025.
They had on May 29, 2004, clubbed to death a young man Wadduwa Fonsuge Bandula Jayawardena Tissera (23) of Galahagama in Uva Paranagama. 
The Attorney General had indicted 13 accused. However, the first accused Senaka Ranjith Premaratne was acquitted. 
The seventh accused R.P.K. Pathirana had died during the trial before the high court and the 12th accused Rukman Indika had gone abroad but was among those convicted.
Police, in their evidence for the prosecution told court that the first accused had been in love with the deceased’s elder sister and that he had taken her to Colombo. However, when her parents had come to know that he was a married man, had brought their daughter home. Police stated that the first accused who rushed to her house with several others at night had assauled the occupants of the house with a mammoty and clubs, causing the death of the young man. 
The case had been pending for more than 20 years and the proceedings ran to 75 pages. 
State Counsel Chirasthi Seneviratne prosecuted.